Kubota L35 TLB - Gear Shift Change Mechanism

[Nicksacco]

Hello All.
I have looked at this forum for advice a few times and thought I'd like to give back.
Recently my well-used L35 wouldn't move forward.
I traced the issue to a broken cable between the shift controller and the actual shifter on the GST.
On the forum I found a lead to a guy on Youtube which helped me understand the issues involved.
Moreover I laughed and choked when I saw that Mama Kubota doesn't sell parts for this assembly - only the entire assembly - at about $700.
Having repaired many motorcycles (they use similar cables) I figured what the heck? So I took some pictures to show what I did to get the L35 back running again.
The long and short is that I bought some steel cable from amazon 1.6mm thick (as close to 2mm original as I could find) and proceeded to replace the cable.
In the process, I ended up powder coating the assemblies and having to repair the original cable sheath due to rust having taken it's toll on the adjustment side (which is on the GST).
The hardest part was getting the cable to be as close to the same length as the original as possible. I used a brass bicycle cable end, ground it down to fit and silver soldered the end of the cable. The rest of the repair is all about adjusting and reassembly.

The cable repair was inserting a small brass tube for extra strength into the adjuster side, and using an 8mm nut to bridge the break in the threaded portion. The whole thing was then epoxied with JB weld (the wonder tool).

Since this was an assembly that wasn't meant to be repaired, the cable ends in the shifter are held in place with pressure applied to the ends/o-rings by bolting the halves together. Really crappy - which made adjusting tricky - to keep the ends from popping out.

 

[Saturn]

Nice job.
How's it working?

 

[Nicksacco]

Nice job.
How's it working?

So far so good!
Currently the tractor is down for some other repairs but hope to have it running again next week.
I'm replacing muffler, cleaning the injectors, and replacing old hydraulic lines with OEM steel lines.
I'll post some of the work for anyone else interested.
Your tractor and mine share a lot in common.

Here's a couple of other pics from the saga.

 

[12251hd]

So far so good!
Currently the tractor is down for some other repairs but hope to have it running again next week.
I'm replacing muffler, cleaning the injectors, and replacing old hydraulic lines with OEM steel lines.
I'll post some of the work for anyone else interested.
Your tractor and mine share a lot in common.

Here's a couple of other pics from the saga.

Thanks for sharing your work. The shift mechanism on my L35 is sloppy and will need work. Thanks again.

 

[Chanceywd]

Nice work. I like to work and repair as I am retired too. I have an 1950 8N that i kept when I got my new L2501. I have had it over 20 years and while I can buy almost anything for it I am one for function and repair and never get around to the level of paint you do and I admire that. I have added a front mount pump with controls and modified a dearborn front plow to hydraulic lift and angle which I use to plow a long drive. I have had plow trucks but the N just seems to be a better size for tasks and I picked the l2501 because of it's comparable size.

 

[Nicksacco]

Thanks for sharing your work. The shift mechanism on my L35 is sloppy and will need work. Thanks again.

As you can see from the pic below, the upper shift mechanism has detents in it (8) corresponding to the 8 gears in the GST. There is a roller and spring that keeps the detent engaged in whatever gear you place the tractor in. Thus the click, click as you shift.
The detents and GST must be aligned properly for it to work. That is a little tricky, but that is what the adjustments are for on the cables. The cables should be pretty snug as any slop between the upper shifter and lower GST will make shifting messy.
There are ORings inside the upper shifter that are a common size found at Lowes or HomeDepot. They are internal to keep out the water and there are indents in the bosses on the inside for them.
The Neutral position on the GST has dots that are aligned when tractor is in neutral. You have to get the gear shift in neutral and then align the lower shift unit - a pain when you have to keep the cables from falling out of the upper unit. A crappy design - by design.

 

[Nicksacco]

Nice work. I like to work and repair as I am retired too. I have an 1950 8N that i kept when I got my new L2501. I have had it over 20 years and while I can buy almost anything for it I am one for function and repair and never get around to the level of paint you do and I admire that. I have added a front mount pump with controls and modified a dearborn front plow to hydraulic lift and angle which I use to plow a long drive. I have had plow trucks but the N just seems to be a better size for tasks and I picked the l2501 because of it's comparable size.

Thank you! I love the 8N. I go to a lot of tractor shows and 8Ns are always around and looking fabulous!
Paint and such is a lot of work - but I like the looks when I'm done. Believe me - never a dull moment around here!

 

[L35]

Seems to be a more frequent problem on the L35 now that the are starting to show some age. Any preventive maintenance to do on these shifters to prolong their service life?

 

[Nicksacco]

Seems to be a more frequent problem on the L35 now that the are starting to show some age. Any preventive maintenance to do on these shifters to prolong their service life?

Here is my 2 cents: If you've never opened the gear shift mechanism it might be worth inspecting the cables. There is never a good time for these to break.
Removing the assembly is pretty easy and the shifter knob unscrews from the shaft.
I don't know if the long bolts and their spacers holding the shifter assembly will fall out or not on your tractor. I was rebuilding the rusty fender side and had the rear wheel removed so it didn't matter to me.

GST SIDE
Start with the GST side first. The pulley inside will try to stick on the GST shift, but some very gentle persuasion will remove it from the tractor. The pulley looked to be made of aluminum to me.
Look for rust on the cables and/or cracks in the cable jacket/cover which could allow water penetration.
There is a large sealed ball bearing that the pulley rests in. That shouldn't need anything unless you've had water issues.
If all looks good, get some thin oil like motorcycle cable lube (not the waxy kind) and spray or drip it down the cable while the shifter end hangs down - let gravity do the work.
The cables should move easily.
You can remove the detent mechanism on the bottom of the shifter to make moving the cables easier.
You don't have to split the halves of the shift mechanism unless you want to.
Grease up the detent roller and spring when you replace it.

SHIFTER SIDE:
If you want to split the halves of the shifter:
1) remove the two bolts on either side of center on the shifter side and
2) remove the detent spring and roller on the bottom (2 bolts there). It bridges both halves.
Then the two sides will come apart, but the shifter arm and cog won't fall out if you leave the center bolt in place.
The darn cable ends will come out of the halves since there's nothing to hold them in place.

TIPS:
If you don't adjust the cable nuts at the GST side, everything will go back the same way.
If you do adjust the cable nuts, measure and make note how much cable extends into the housing before turning anything.
Take a lot of pictures!!!

Be careful not to tear the large flat ORings on the center section - ensure they go back properly and are not pinched. A bit of grease helps.
Replace the ORings on the shifter side cables if not soft and elastic.
Replace the two housing ORings on either side of the center bolt if damaged.
Use Sil-Glyde or similar on the Orings.

Putting it all back together is a bit of a pain, but easier if you have another set of hands to do things like hold the cables in the shifter side and ensuring the ORings don't fall off.
Use RTV or similar in the halves before mating them together.

I know, it's a lot of work.

 

[L35]

Great write up, thanks for taking the time. It does seem like a project but if it saves a breakdown or a expensive replacement part it’s worth it to me. Sounds like a nice winter project.

 

[Matt matt]

I have the same problem with the the cable snapping in the shifter assembly. I took the hole assembly apart and repaired the cable. Quick note the tractor’s transmission was in neutral when I pulled the shifter assembly off . After I put the assembly back together with the new cable all the gears were out of whack and not properly lined up. would appreciate some help.

 

[Nicksacco]

Hi Matt.
I'm not sure if this is one of Kubota's best ideas ever.
Did you take measurements of the cable ends before disassembly? If not, no worries, that helps give you a starting place - but doesn't guarantee instant success on the initial adjustment.
Is the new cable approx the same length as the old one? That helps.

My advice is to remove the LEFT rear wheel and seat to give you lots of moving around room.
It's going to be trial and error to get everything just right.

I found that the cables have to be taut in the mechanism (Between the hand shifter and the transmission shifter) to work properly.
Adjusting the cables can be done at the transmission side only (I am not aware of engineering changes perhaps adding other adjustments).

--Put the transmission in neutral (according to the dots in the picture)
--Put the hand shifter (the end you use to shift with) in the neutral position (count the clicks)
--Visually align the shifter end (that bolts to transmission) to align with the transmission shaft as best you can (very hard to see)
--Put a bolt in (of the 3) and give it a try.
--Repeat
The key here is to have the cables tight. As you're adjusting to find the neutral. if you loosen one cable, tighten the other cable - keeping them tight is the only way to do it.

When I thought I had it right, I started the engine and tried the gears.
NOTE: Not in 4WD and right wheel jacked off the ground

TRANSMISSION IN NEUTRAL - DOT ON SHIFT SHAFT ALIGNED WITH DOT ON CASE.

 

[Fire-N-The-Hole]

Hello All.
I have looked at this forum for advice a few times and thought I'd like to give back.
Recently my well-used L35 wouldn't move forward.
I traced the issue to a broken cable between the shift controller and the actual shifter on the GST.
On the forum I found a lead to a guy on Youtube which helped me understand the issues involved.
Moreover I laughed and choked when I saw that Mama Kubota doesn't sell parts for this assembly - only the entire assembly - at about $700.
Having repaired many motorcycles (they use similar cables) I figured what the heck? So I took some pictures to show what I did to get the L35 back running again.
The long and short is that I bought some steel cable from amazon 1.6mm thick (as close to 2mm original as I could find) and proceeded to replace the cable.
In the process, I ended up powder coating the assemblies and having to repair the original cable sheath due to rust having taken it's toll on the adjustment side (which is on the GST).
The hardest part was getting the cable to be as close to the same length as the original as possible. I used a brass bicycle cable end, ground it down to fit and silver soldered the end of the cable. The rest of the repair is all about adjusting and reassembly.

The cable repair was inserting a small brass tube for extra strength into the adjuster side, and using an 8mm nut to bridge the break in the threaded portion. The whole thing was then epoxied with JB weld (the wonder tool).

Since this was an assembly that wasn't meant to be repaired, the cable ends in the shifter are held in place with pressure applied to the ends/o-rings by bolting the halves together. Really crappy - which made adjusting tricky - to keep the ends from popping out.

I am having a similar situation with my tractor. The only difference is that my will drive in 1st gear but (seemingly at random) no other gear. Is this the same issue you had?

 

[Nicksacco]

Yes, sort of.
And what I mean is that it takes 2 cables to move the actual gear selector forward and back.
If one cable breaks, you might be able to keep moving it forward thru the gears, but not be able to get out of gear.
For me, the cable that moves into gears broke and I was stuck in neutral.
For you perhaps that same cable broke somewhere around 1st gear but not quite in 1st gear on the actual transmission.

Although not hard to work on, the gear selector mechanism Kubota uses in the L35 is prone to cable rusting and breaking and I believe they could've done a better design job.

The selector you move, is buried beneath the seat on the left side of the machine. It's hard to get to, but doable. Two cables run from the selector to the GST on the left side below the floor. Squished in between the frame and transmission.

If you are removing this assembly for the first time, do yourself a favor and remove the left rear wheel so you can really see things.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

wow, here I thought the double cable snowblower chute system was stupid, THIS is IDIOTIC, though I know why they did it... doing it 'old skool' was probably impossible ??
LOVE that you FIXED it !!

wonder if there's a market in rebuilding them ? $700 US is about $1000 CDN,could be a 'niche' market ,a paying hobby ? Exchange busted for repair for $xxx ?

course now I'm thinking about replacing the cable setup with a small linear actuator or hitorque RC servo and a $2 microcomputer. truly 'fly by wire'

 

[fried1765]

Hello All.
I have looked at this forum for advice a few times and thought I'd like to give back.
Recently my well-used L35 wouldn't move forward.
I traced the issue to a broken cable between the shift controller and the actual shifter on the GST.
On the forum I found a lead to a guy on Youtube which helped me understand the issues involved.
Moreover I laughed and choked when I saw that Mama Kubota doesn't sell parts for this assembly - only the entire assembly - at about $700.
Having repaired many motorcycles (they use similar cables) I figured what the heck? So I took some pictures to show what I did to get the L35 back running again.
The long and short is that I bought some steel cable from amazon 1.6mm thick (as close to 2mm original as I could find) and proceeded to replace the cable.
In the process, I ended up powder coating the assemblies and having to repair the original cable sheath due to rust having taken it's toll on the adjustment side (which is on the GST).
The hardest part was getting the cable to be as close to the same length as the original as possible. I used a brass bicycle cable end, ground it down to fit and silver soldered the end of the cable. The rest of the repair is all about adjusting and reassembly.

The cable repair was inserting a small brass tube for extra strength into the adjuster side, and using an 8mm nut to bridge the break in the threaded portion. The whole thing was then epoxied with JB weld (the wonder tool).

Since this was an assembly that wasn't meant to be repaired, the cable ends in the shifter are held in place with pressure applied to the ends/o-rings by bolting the halves together. Really crappy - which made adjusting tricky - to keep the ends from popping out.

Very innovative fix!
JB Weld will fix anything but a broken heart.
Your repair will likely last a long time.

Curiosity question: Was that machine previously used in a salt mine?

 

[Nicksacco]

Hey guys.
@GreensvilleJay and @fried1765.

Hmmm, maybe I've missed an opportunity to make money fixing L35 gear selectors!
I like the idea of using a different gear selection, but I just wanted to get to OEM.
I wonder how many of these babies are still out there.

I am sure this tractor was at the bottom of the ocean and used for dredging or something!
Seriously it was really in bad rusty shape when I took on the challenge.
It took me a year and a half to restore it and it runs very well.
I'm in the process of some last fixes on the backhoe (pins and bushings) then will paint that too.
Here are a few pics of the completed machine.

This was what the Floor looked like

I built a NEW floor from this remaining piece.
One of many challenges!

 

[fried1765]

Hey guys.
@GreensvilleJay and @fried1765.

Hmmm, maybe I've missed an opportunity to make money fixing L35 gear selectors!
I like the idea of using a different gear selection, but I just wanted to get to OEM.
I wonder how many of these babies are still out there.

I am sure this tractor was at the bottom of the ocean and used for dredging or something!
Seriously it was really in bad rusty shape when I took on the challenge.
It took me a year and a half to restore it and it runs very well.
I'm in the process of some last fixes on the backhoe (pins and bushings) then will paint that too.
Here are a few pics of the completed machine.

View attachment 98747

View attachment 98752


View attachment 98748

This was what the Floor looked like

View attachment 98749


I built a NEW floor from this remaining piece.
One of many challenges!

View attachment 98750

View attachment 98751

EXCELLENT work!
From the amount of rust you have had to deal with......
Have you ever considered the possibility that it might have actually been driven from the Bahamas to you in Bahama, NC?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Where's the ROPS?
I bought the complete ROPS for a L35 on eBay for $7 a few years ago.
With shipping it was $57
The guy was not happy!

It's still waiting to go on my L if I can ever get a little time to fit it up.

 

[sitric]

Nice job restoring it. It is certainly worth doing to me, if you can bring back a tractor to full functionality.